Signments



(No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet 1.

J. GRAVES.

SHEET METAL SUMMER PIECE AND FRAME. No. 562,393. Patented June 23, 1896.

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l a M w d & m/ i i w :T 1 w (No Model. V 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. GRAVES.

SHEET METAL SUMMER PIECE AND FRAME. No. 562,393. Patented June 23, 1896.

WITNESSES WATER/ Er ANDRLW BYGRAHAM. PHOTOUTNUWASHINGTOKDE JOHN GRAVES,OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, TO THE NATIONAL\VROUGHT STEEL MANUFAOTUR- ING COMPANY.

SHEET-METAL'SUMMER PIECE AND FRAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,393, dated June 23,1896.

Application filed November 30, 1894. Serial No. 530,510. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN GRAVES, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-MetalSummer Pieces and Frames, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in summer pieces and frames formantels and the method of making the same, particularly to such whenmade of sheet metal.

Sheet-metal summer pieces and frames are a desirable article ofmanufacture, being a cheap and light substitute for the heavy and morecostly cast iron summer pieces and frames now generally used, but ithasheretofore been impractical to press the frames for reasons which Iwill now state, referring, for example, to the drawings of mysummerpiece, which accompany the specification, and whereof-- Figure 1is a front elevation of the same; Fig. 2, a vertical section on the lineso 00 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a horizontal section on the line y yof Fig. 1;Fig. 4:, a detail showing the construction by which the cap E is held inplace. Fig. 5 is a view of the frame separated from the summer-piece.

Being a sheet-metal worker, I perceived the advantages of sheet-metalsummer pieces and frames and made many attempts to press such, butfailed because I undertook to press the frame separately from thesummer-pieces. By frames is meant the corrugated or molded borderportion of the article, represented in the drawings which accompany thespecification by the part A between the depression I I and the outermargin of the article, the inner part B being the summer-piece. Fromconditions arising out of the ornamentation and the setting of themantels, it is necessary that the frame shall extend around only threeof the sides of the summer-piece, but not around the fourth side, and inthis fact resides the source of the difficulty of pressing the frames.In attemptin" g to press the frames I had taken a sheet of metal, shapedto the general outline of the frame, and attempted to press that in dieshaving a suitable shape to produce the desired moldings or corrugations,these moldings or corrugations being indispensable in order to give thenecessary stiffness to the frame; but all my attempts to press the framein this manner failed. The cause of the failure was twofold. In thefirst place, asIwas attempting to press the frame alone, and the sheetwas therefore shaped as three sides only of a rectangle, and with alarge opening in the center Where the summer-piece was to beafterwardfitted, there was no central metal to resist the effect of thestrain resulting from the bending of the frame as the dies closed on it.Consequently, I found that the bending of the metal of the frame,especially at the miters 2 2, 3 3, drew the metal of the sides a a ofthe frame inward, and the result was that the frame came from the diewith its sides curved inward, instead of being straight, and thisdestroyed the frame for all practical purposes. In the second place,there being no metal inside the facings a a, the strain of bending themetal at the miters 2 2 cracked the metal across the said facings a a,and ruined the frames.

For the causes stated, I for a long time failed in attempting to press aframe; but after much experimentinghaving determined the causes offailure to be as above explained, I discovered that I could press themetal of the frame into any desired moldings and corrugations, providedIso pressed it in one sheet with the summer-piece, the part forming thesummer-piece being cut out of the frame after the frame was pressed.

I discovered that when a sheet of metal large enough to form both theframe and the summer-piece was put into the dies and pressed, thedifficulties above mentioned were overcome in the following manner:First, as to the curving in of the sides a a of the frame; this wasovercome when the frame was pressed in one piece with the summer-piece,because the metal of the summer-piece being held flat between thediesoffered so great a resistance to compression or buckling that thesides a a of the frame could not curve in, but remained straight;second, as to the cracking of the facing a a at the miters 2 2, thelarge extent of the metal of the summer-piece being within said miters22, prevented a crack from starting.

In making the frame and summer-piece, I proceed as follows: First, Itake a sheet of metal sufficiently large to form both the frame and thesummer-piece. Then I put this between dies which have a suitableconfiguration to produce moldings or corrugations around three sides ofthe metal near the margin. One of such dies is also fitted with aplunger, the other with a corresponding hole,

positioned to produce the opening D for a smoke-pipe from a heater. Ialso prefer to form across the lower part of the summerpiece thetransverse rib Z), which serves both to stiffen the summer-piece and tooffer additional resistance to the curving in of the frame. Proceedinginthis manner, I am able to form the frame without difficulty. The openingD, which can be made in the part that forms the summer-piece, at thesame time the frame is pressed, has the raised rim d all around, and acap E, Fig. 4, is made of sheet metal in suitable manner to fit theopening. The sides 6 e of said cap being somewhat coned inwardly, asseen, the rim f of the said cap being turned outward to bear on the rimd, said cap E is held in place by the compression of the sides againstthe rim d. To facilitate withdrawing the said cap a thumb-hole g isprovided in the bottom thereof, as shown.

\Vhile Fig. I shows the frame before the summer-piece is cut out, Fig. 5shows the frame after the summer-piece is removed.

To provide for securing the frame in position, eye-pieces h h areriveted on the inside of frame, so that hooks can be carried from themto the wall behind the mantel.

Now, having described my improvement, I claim as my invention-- Asheet-metal fireplace-frame first stamped and then cut from a single andcontinuous sheet of metal.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have hereuntoset my hand this 9th day of June, 1894.

JOHN GRAVES.

In presence of-- BERNARD J. IsEcKE, PATRICK A. FAY.

